Food Day 2012 / Amazing Apple Turnovers

Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food.

This year, Mary, of Mary Makes Dinner, decided to join in by inviting fellow food bloggers to write a post about the fight for good, clean, fair food.

C4B is proud to join Mary in this event!

This year, Food Day is October 24, 2012.

The C4B contribution to the blogging adventure is to finally blog about something most of us have had, but I think few have actually (successfully) made: apple turnovers. Made with ingredients that, especially this time of the year, almost everyone has in their kitchens, mainly apples and cinnamon, with a dough made mainly with flour and butter.

Like most of us, I’ve gotten these from a bakery, and they are super yummy. Making them at home however, that’s a different story. Sure they taste good, but for the most part, instead of an apple turnover, we end up with a handheld apple pie.

If I wanted to make an apple pie, I’d make an apple pie!

First thing to change was the dough: no pie dough!! We’re making a pastry, not a pie. Quickly settled on using a pâte brisée, which would give me the flaky layers I was looking for in an apple turnover.

Next was the filling. Again, most fillings sound like apple pie filling, so I cut out most of the usual apple pie spices, sticking with just cinnamon and vanilla, and adding some cranberries for taste and texture. To give the filling a little more apple taste, and less apple-pie texture, I added some apple butter, but that led to a runny filling when cooked. A little corn starch thickened things up nicely without the flour taste I ran into when I tried to use flour as a thickener. See notes below for substitutions and variations.

Heat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or butter baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, mix together apples, and cranberries with the sugar and cinnamon, making sure the apples and cranberries are coated well. Stir in the apple butter, and vanilla, and corn starch.

Roll out half of the pâte brisée to to cardboard thickness, on a lightly floured surface into a 10×15″ rectangle. Easiest way to get a clean 10×15″ rectangle is to roll out the dough into a 11×16″ rectangle, then trim to 10×15″.

Cut the dough into six 5×5″ squares. Place 2 tablespoons of the apple mixture in each square, leaving a 1″ border. Use a pastry brush to brush the egg on the border of the pastry.

Fold each pastry into a triangle and crimp edges with a fork. Brush the top of each pastry with the beaten egg. Cut a small slit in the top of each turnover to allow steam to escape.

Bake for 18-22 minute or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm.

Notes:

Best results will come from a firm apple, such as Granny Smith.

You can substitute store-bought puff pastry dough if you’re in a hurry.

Apple sauce can be used instead of apple butter.

Easiest way to cut an even 5×5″ square that I found is to actually cut a 5×5″ piece of cardboard and lay that on top of the dough, then cut the dough.

A pastry cutter works best here, but a kitchen knife will still get the job done.